Comments for Firefly and Western Literaturehttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com
Just another WordPress.com weblogSat, 20 Feb 2010 17:32:32 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/Comment on Zoe and Lord Bowler by Joshhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/zoe-and-lord-bowler/#comment-215
Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:32:32 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-215The Mare’s Leg that Zoe uses is actually the same prop used in Brisco County Jr., carried by Crystal Hawkes when she captures Brisco. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Brisco_County,_Jr.
]]>Comment on Zoe and Lord Bowler by hammersonghttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/zoe-and-lord-bowler/#comment-212
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:47:16 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-212Mare’s leg is seen also in the opening scene of “Once Upon a Time in the West.” One of Frank’s three gunman (played by Woody Strode) carries the same rifle/pistol. Both Zoe’s use of a modified leg and the use in OUATITW are a homage to the silver age of westerns in film and to the character of Josh Randall specifically.
Whether this modified Winchester was actually used as its is in these films is best guess, but it was probably as good a choice as any for close quarters combat.
]]>Comment on Death Wish and the Post-Western by Andrewhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/death-wish-and-the-post-western/#comment-210
Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:12:08 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-210Actually, the magazine in the movie with the headline about Frontier Justice was Harpers. I’ve checked the archives for Harpers and it does not appear to be a real issue.
]]>Comment on The Woman Who Shot Liberty Valance by Helenhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/the-woman-who-shot-liberty-valance/#comment-209
Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:50:20 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=79#comment-209Very good analysis!
]]>Comment on About the Firefly Blog by Hendrik Vlaarhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/about/#comment-169
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:11:11 +0000#comment-169Interesting… I didn’t know about the “western roots” of sci-fi… but now firefly makes a lot more sense to me. Thanks đź™‚
]]>Comment on Dollhouse by house » Blog Archive » Dollhouse Â« Firefly and Western Literaturehttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/dollhouse/#comment-161
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:44:20 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=161#comment-161[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptItâ€™s with mixed emotions that I welcome the premiere of the new Joss Whedon series Dollhouse. On the one hand, itâ€™s good to see Whedon back in the saddle, but the placement of Dollhouse in Fireflyâ€™s old time slot on Friday nights (at … […]
]]>Comment on Zoe and Lord Bowler by caesar Nunezhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/zoe-and-lord-bowler/#comment-160
Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:57:59 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=88#comment-160here is a more accurate discription of where zoe’s gun came from. the one on carry’s back is a double barrel shot gun. The Mare’s Leg (aka Mare’s Laig; both sometimes spelled without the apostrophe) was the name given to a customized shortened rifle by Steve McQueen’s character on the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958–1961). McQueen’s character was named Josh Randall, and the gun has also been referred to as a Winchester Randall, or a Randall Special.

The original Mare’s Leg was made by cutting down a .44-40 caliber Winchester Model 1892 rifle to a size that could be worn in a large leg holster and used with one hand. The barrel was cut down to a length of twelve (or possibly nine) inches,[1] and much of the butt-stock was removed. For filming three guns were actually made, each with an enlarged loop on the cocking lever. The first gun differed in the size of its lever enlargement, and the last gun had an octagonal barrel instead of a round one. The actual gun being used could sometimes change from shot to shot in a given scene. While the guns were chambered for the .44-40 round, McQueen wore more impressive looking .45-70 rounds in the loops of his gun belt

]]>Comment on “Once, in Flight School, I Was Laconic” by firefly10108https://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/once-in-flight-school-i-was-laconic/#comment-156
Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:31:40 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=152#comment-156It’s sort of a variation of the “triangle of desire” that Eve Sedgwick discusses–the romantic triangle in which the point is really the relationship between the two men in their rivalry for the woman supposedly at the center of the triangle. The presence of the woman provides a cover for the intense interest of the two men in each other. Or, in this case, their intense discussion about Zoe allows them to ignore Niska’s demand for their attention (poor Niska, a fourth wheel in the erotic triangle).
]]>Comment on “Once, in Flight School, I Was Laconic” by saraspurgeonhttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/once-in-flight-school-i-was-laconic/#comment-155
Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:11:56 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=152#comment-155I’d say another important Western element of this episode is, in fact, the physical brutality and torture of the men. As Lee Clark Mitchell argues in his 1996 book Westerns: Making the Man in Fiction and Film, the physical punishment of the Western hero’s body followed by his recovery of his strength and virility is part of what makes a man a man in Westerns. The freudians have a field day here, as the beating of the male hero is often seen as a symbolic castration requiring the hero to re-masculinize himself by performing some act of ultra-violence against the bad guys. Mal might be seen as being symbolically castrated by Niska, when Niska cuts off his ear. Mal is then quite literally tortured to death when his heart stops, but Niska brings him back or perhaps we are to interpret this as Mal being so physically manly that he can regain his masculinity even from death. Mitchell calls it “being restored to his masculine body.” Mitchell also suggests that Westerns are inherently about looking at men, and thus the gaze is most often directed at the male body (albeit with what Mitchell calls “hesitations, distortions, and evasions” to avoid suggestions of homoeroticism). I wouldn’t argue this is an especially homoerotic scene, although the camera does spend a lot of time gazing at two shirt-less, well-muscled, sweat-glazed male bodies both of which are broken down then eventually restored to masculine wholeness. The freudians would also point out that Zoe provides an acceptable female presence to mediate between the male characters as they are being stripped and beaten by another man. OK, maybe it is homoerotic…
]]>Comment on Death Wish and the Post-Western by roarvishttps://firefly10108.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/death-wish-and-the-post-western/#comment-53
Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:57:51 +0000http://firefly10108.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-53Hi, I really enjoyed this review. I happened to be writing about Death Wish on my blog and followed a link over here.

I didn’t pick up on the Western connotations when I saw the film, but it was a couple years ago. I’d have to think on that one.